1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to an assembly or combination of a beverage container and drinking straw. More particularly, it relates to a beverage container as a unitary packaging combination with a drinking straw that is removably attached to said beverage container.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art discloses drinking straws separately packaged for later use when a user wishes to insert a drinking straw into a container to consume a beverage. However, this arrangement (i.e., separation of straw and container) is a cumbersome one as it requires additional effort to associate the drinking straw with the beverage container when the user wishes to consume the beverage contents.
Further, rigid drinking straws are not efficient in retrieving beverage contents from a container as these drinking straws are characterized by an inflexibility that does not enable adequate reach into all areas of the container.
Combination units of drinking straws and beverage containers are known in the art, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,460 to Winberg, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,433 to Howes, U.S. Pat. No. 3,303,985 to Prokes, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,111 to Merom. Winberg discloses a flattened, folded straw secured to the bottom recess of a beverage can with a protective device attached in overlying relation to protect the straw. Howes discloses a prize delivery system concealed within a food container. Prokes discloses a disposable beverage dispensing container including a sipping straw for removal of the beverage, wherein the straw is enclosed in a tear strip that is adhered to the container. Merom discloses beverage can cleaner attached to a beverage can, the cleaner used to clean the circumferential groove of the top of the beverage can.
However, these references neither include any ability to sanitize a straw in a container-straw combination nor provide sufficient ease of usability. Often users want to sanitize a straw prior to use, particularly straws that might be manufactured with the beverage container, in order to clean any debris from the manufacturing process and any adhesive remnants that allow attachment of the straw to the container. Users may not have a sanitizing wipe at hand to clean the straw when needed in use.
Accordingly, what is needed is a unitary combination of beverage container and straw that is packaged as a single unit or item, said straw being cleansable and sufficiently flexible to retrieve liquid contents from all areas of the container. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the art could be advanced.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.
The present invention may address one or more of the problems and deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. However, it is contemplated that the invention may prove useful in addressing other problems and deficiencies in a number of technical areas. Therefore, the claimed invention should not necessarily be construed as limited to addressing any of the particular problems or deficiencies discussed herein.
In this specification, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.